Pages

Most companies get that data analysis is important in the context of doing business. But a smaller number have the wherewithal to drill into the mountains of data they generate to get actual business insight from it.

Microsoft wants to change this situation. On Tuesday, the software giant rolled out a trio of new big data products that it said will let customers derive value from data residing in server logs, social networking streams and other places.

Many Microsoft customers have been using SQL Server and Excel to analyze and gain insights from their business data. Now there's a new version of SQL Server that features in-memory processing technology.

SQL Server already represents a $5 billion business for Microsoft, and the update makes it a dramatically faster and more useful product for enterprises, CEO Satya Nadella said at a customer event in San Francisco.

But while SQL Server is a huge pillar of Microsoft's big data strategy, Azure is now playing a bigger role than it has in the past. Nadella said Azure, in combination with SQL Server, will let organizations take advantage of data analysis regardless of their level of technical expertise.

Microsoft has launched a preview of Azure Intelligent Systems Service, its forthcoming cloud-based service for the Internet of Things. It collects data from servers and web-connected sensors built into refrigerators, toothbrushes and other everyday items, and analyzes it in the cloud to derive useful information.

Nadella described Azure Intelligent Systems Service as a way to "take out all of the friction" between connecting the Internet Of Things with the analytics power of the cloud.

Also new is Analytics Platform System (APS), an appliance Microsoft executives are calling "big data in a box" that does queries on both SQL and Hadoop data stores. Nadella said customers can use the APS appliance to do queries across their transactional systems, servers, and website logs and social data streams.

APS and Azure Intelligent Systems Service are part of Microsoft's effort to "democratize" access to business intelligence for the masses, Chris Hertz, CEO of New Signature, a Washington, D.C.-based Microsoft partner, said in an interview.

"With the release of APS, they have made it even easier for customers to leverage Hadoop, by providing what I think of as a scalable starter kit," Hertz told CRN. "This will really make managing and actually using big data a reality for all businesses, not just those with outsized budgets."

XChange Solution Provider 2015 is finally upon us and the timing couldn't be better. The premier channel event is happening March 1-3 in Dallas, bringing together 225 solution provider decision makers from across North America. CRN is at the event to provide news, analysis and a firsthand take from partners.